The Covenant Blood Was Shed For
A Covenant refers to an epochal relationship of restoration and peace following a period of trial and judgment. As are all covenants between God and man described in the Bible, it is “a bond in blood sovereignly administered by God.” The New Covenant is first mentions in Jeremiah 31.
31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will make a new covenantwith the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares Yahweh. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares Yahweh, “I will put my Law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh,’ for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares Yahweh, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more .“
Jeremiah 31: 31-34Here are a few points we get from this passage:
1) The New Covenant is established by God himself.
2) The law of God is written in their thinking and their affections, not just in stone.
3) Every single member of the New Covenant “knows the LORD” in an intimate way
4) The sins of the members of the New Covenant are forgiven by God, and will never be recalled.
The Old Covenant that God had established with His people required obedience to the Old Testament Mosaic law. Because the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), the law required that people performed rituals and sacrifices in order to please God and remain in His grace. The prophet Jeremiah predicted that there would be a time when God would make a new covenant with the nation of Israel.Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant. His sacrifice was supieror than those of the animal sacrifices. People miss a bigger picture of Christ’s death. Yes, He saved us from our sins, and yes He fulfiled hundreds of prophecies, but the most important one he fulfilled was God’s New Covenant. Christ’s death made the Old Covenant dissappear, and brought forth a New Covenant. God (Yahweh), gave the Israelites a stern warning, as well as enough time to heed to the warning, that the Covenant that they are in, will pass, and a new one will be brought forth.
People would argue that God said, “I will not leave My peopel”, referring to Israel and their inhabitants. God was speaking about His Covenant. Yeah, His Covenant was in Israel, and that was God’s country, but God declared a New Covenant was about to make way. And like I said, God gave them warning. Israel and it’s inhabitants are not God’s people any more, for they do not believe in Christ.
Now that we are under the New Covenant, we are not bound by the law. We are now given the opportunity to receive salvation as a free gift, not as a reward for any of our good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Through the life-giving Holy Spirit who lives in all believers (Romans 8:9-11), we can now share in the inheritance of Christ and enjoy a permanent, unbroken relationship with God. Hebrews 9:15 states
“For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”